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Chaudhry Zulfiqar was shot multiple times after gunmen intercepted his vehicle shortly after he left home in a busy, middle-class neighbourhood of the capital. His bodyguard was also wounded and a woman passer-by killed.
The assassination comes just days before Pakistan holds historic general elections on May 11, marking the first time that a civilian government completes a full-term in office and hands over to another at the ballot box.
Zulfiqar was given extra government security last year after he was mentioned in threats received by police investigators working on the Bhutto case.
The source of the threats was unclear, but one investigator said he was told not to appear in court at Zulfiqar’s behest by an unknown caller using a number in Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a candidate running for parliament in next week’s historic Pakistani election was also shot dead yesterday along with his three-year-old son after praying in a mosque in Karachi, police said.
It is the first time that a national assembly candidate has been killed in Pakistan’s election campaign. Campaigning has been marred by Taliban threats and attacks, which have killed 62 people since April 11, according to an AFP tally.
The May 11 polls for the national and regional assemblies mark the first time that a civilian government completes a full-term and hands over to another at the ballot box, in a country that has been ruled by the military for half its life.
Saddiq Zaman Khattak was a businessman and a candidate for the Awami National Party (ANP), the leading secular party in Pakistan’s ethnic Pastun northwest. A party leader said he had received threats. – AFP.
Online Reporter